North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams said he was stunned when the NCAA denied an exhibition game against South Carolina with the proceeds set to go to those affected by Hurricane Florence.

“I was dumbfounded when the waiver was not granted,” Williams told reporters in Chapel Hill, N.C., this week for the Tar Heels' media day, according to The Charlotte Observer.

Williams said he called Gamecocks coach Frank Martin with the idea to have the game between the two teams as a benefit for Hurricane Florence relief. The storm caused catastrophic damage to the Carolinas in September, leaving many families homeless because of massive flooding.

“Our state and South Carolina had a terrible tragedy, a horrific storm come through, whatever you want to call it,” Williams said. “I called (Martin) and said, ‘Nobody’s been hurt as badly as we have, North Carolina and South Carolina, with Florence.’ And we asked for a waiver to see if we could play.

“When you see the scenes of people’s stuff out on the street, you want to do something. And that’s sadly what we saw. We saw so many situations, people losing everything they have. And we had what I thought was one of the few good ideas I’ve ever had.”

Martin says he, too, was incredibly disappointed.

"This wasn't a situation of two schools playing a game to help a different part of the country or somewhere abroad," he said. "It was just two state universities trying to create relief for their states."

Williams said the NCAA denied the request because both teams already had two exhibition games on their 2018-19 schedule and, per the governing body's rules, allowing an extra game would make for an unfair advantage. The veteran coach said "that was not the intent."

"I’m not trying to gain an advantage on anybody, I don’t think we can gain an advantage on anybody, but we were willing to play each other," he said.

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Williams added that he intended to reach out to Charlotte Hornets chairman Michael Jordan to have the game hosted at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

“I wanted to take it to Charlotte because it would be closer between the two schools," Williams said, "and play a game and give all the money — all the money — to (hurricane relief efforts)."

UNC athletics spokesman Steve Kirschner told USA TODAY by email that the university did not make a formal waiver request to the NCAA because the organization told UNC's compliance staff it would not be accepting waivers for a third exhibition game. The Committee on Basketball Oversight decided in June 2018 that waivers would not be accepted for a third exhibition game.

The NCAA did not immediately respond for comment on Wednesday afternoon. The governing body allows two non-publicized scrimmages or exhibition games in which the money is donated to charity each season. All schools had the option to alter one of their two existing exhibitions/scrimmages.

South Carolina's athletic department did not immediately comment when contacted by USA TODAY Sports.